While the benefits of acupuncture in order to relieve labor pains are increasingly recognized, which It is not proven that the use of this technique favors the start of labor when it is delayed.
At least this is clear from an Australian study conducted on 364 pregnant women who had passed the estimated date of delivery, and whose results have been published in the journal "Obstetrics & Gynecology."
The team of researchers randomly divided the women into two groups: dFor 2 sessions, one received real acupuncture and the other, a "placebo" version of the technique. In the women of this second group, the needles were inserted superficially at points other than the traditional ones.
In the end, it was concluded that women treated with real acupuncture were as likely as the other group to need some of the traditional forms of induction of labor, which was also not shorter than in the second group.
Even so, the authors point out that the results do not prove that acupuncture is useless in the induction of labor, and as usually happens, they expect more extensive studies and with a different methodology. That way you could know if, for example, using acupuncture before or applying more sessions would help induce labor.
